The Ellen DeGeneres Show has faced a tumultuous year thus far. Over the summer, several employees of the daytime talk show voiced allegations of a toxic workplace environment — which included racism, sexism, and other reportedly abusive behavior — and rampant sexual misconduct. Following some behind-the-scenes changes, Ellen DeGeneres returned to hosting her show following the allegations back in September. And when The Ellen DeGeneres Show won the award for Daytime Talk Show during this weekend's telecast of the 2020 People’s Choice Awards, some viewers were quite furious.
The People’s Choice Awards are fueled by the votes of the people, obviously, and it seems that The Ellen DeGeneres Show is still beloved enough to have won the award, despite the onslaught of allegations. Ellen DeGeneres accepted the Daytime Talk Show award, thanking her crew and staff for giving 100% of themselves to the talk show every day that they come in. Ellen also thanked the fans who still supported her, but there were many viewers who were angered by the win, and took to Twitter to react accordingly. For instance, this NSFW reaction:
As you can see, some viewers watching the People’s Choice Awards were confused by Ellen DeGeneres winning, considering all the allegations and backlash that plagued the talk show earlier this year. One viewer was quite aghast by the talk show's success, believing that the workplace claims would have stopped DeGeneres from winning.
Meanwhile, one viewer was of the opinion that something just wasn’t right with the People’s Choice Awards' voting methods this year. (Probably not the best accusation to make considering everything going on with the U.S. presidential election, but so be it.)
Other viewers were equally flabbergasted, with one adding a photo of a confused child to express their discontent with The Ellen DeGeneres Show winning out during the People’s Choice Awards.
The Twitter user simply couldn’t understand how the win happened, and wondered if people had so quickly moved on from all the incidents that occurred over the summer that they chose to champion Ellen DeGeneres without proper hindsight. Yet another viewer had similar feelings on the matter, inserting a properly shock-filled GIF in reaction to the award.
The Ellen DeGeneres Show returned to the air in September, and the first thing Ellen did at the time during her opening monologue was address those toxic workplace allegations and the subsequent backlash that incurred. The host discussed the allegations and the following investigation, saying that “necessary changes” had been made behind the scenes of the show, which included the firing of three producers, some of whom were named in the initial allegations made by staff.
However, the talk show faced a major loss in viewership upon its return to air and hit another roadblock shortly after, when it was announced that 80 employees had been laid off. Ellen DeGeneres stated that the layoffs came as a shock to her, but that they went through because of the overall restructuring happening behind the scenes at Warner Bros. TV, the studio that produces The Ellen DeGeneres Show. All told, winning the People’s Choice Award is one of the first truly positive things to happen for the talk show in a while.
The Ellen DeGeneres Show airs new episodes weekdays in syndication, so check your local listings for times. In the meantime, be sure to check out our 2020 fall TV premiere schedule and our 2021 winter and spring guide for more on what to watch.
